~ Amat victoria curam

Monthly Archives: February 2013

1. Know thine subject

Don’t read off of slides, adults are capable of doing that without an instructor.

Respect your audience’s time and intelligence by reviewing the material beforehand.

If a question or topic comes up that you are not prepared to discuss or you are unable to provide an answer, simply say “that’s a good question, I’ll need to look up the correct answer at the break…”

While it is necessary for you to know the subject you’re teaching, no one expects you to be infallible or to know everything.

2. Know thine audience

Always be professional and take extra care to tailor your training to your audience.

For example, don’t share a violent active shooter training video with parents at the PTA meeting–find a more informative and less stressful media presentation.

At a training I recently attended, the presenter used gunshot sound effects at each slide transition–this was not only distracting but could have triggered an emotional response from audience members who have been in combat or other violent situations.

During a CERT course I attended, one of the instructors was a firefighter and absentmindedly included training for skills that exceed CERT requirements–this wasn’t terrible, but the material should have been tailored for CERT rather than the fire service.

Assume that someone in your audience might have an unintended emotional response to examples of violence, gore, profanity, etc.

3. Thou shall tell a story

People love stories and case studies.

Stories should be short, sweet, and relevant to the discussion.

Stories can provide excellent reinforcement for lessons.

Do not get off-topic and consumed with a long story (and do not drop names throughout a story).

Do not tell inappropriate stories or stories that could embarrass/harm your and your agency’s reputation.

4. Thou shall not bear false witness (be honest)

Be candid and sincere.

Don’t tell a story that you don’t know to be true.

5. Thou shall be realistic

Without being gratuitously violent, graphic, or profane, all training should be as realistic as possible to prepare students for what they will encounter in the real world.

If the training you’re providing differs significantly from real world application, refer to the (previous) 4th Commandment.

6. Thou shall educate, thou shall NOT intimidate

Resist the urge to frighten new students, it doesn’t make for a good learning environment.

In emergency preparedness training, it is easy to cause fear in students. Doing so creates an emotional response in the students. People do not learn best when they have a strong emotional response to the course content. In the 2009 article “Stressed Memories: How Acute Stress Affects Memory Formation in Humans,” the authors explain that “During a stressful time, a person’s attention and emotional state may be affected which could hinder the ability to focus…”

By presenting the course content in logical, reasonable, and non-harassing way, your students will feel more comfortable, be willing to ask questions, and share more during the course. Intimidation may work in boot camp but doesn’t have a place in most emergency preparedness classes (such as CPR, first aid, ICS courses, etc).

7. Thou shall NOT gratuitously show terrorists’/criminals’ pictures

Unless it is necessary, refrain from using pictures of terrorists or other criminals during your presentations. Many of these killers want to be famous/infamous and spreading their image only helps them reach their goal. Instead, focus on the victims or the responders. The perpetrators should not be given undue publicity.

You should use the photographs of terrorists/criminals if you have a need to do so. For example, you could show pictures of several active shooters and explain how they didn’t look like killers before their acts of violence and, thus, we really can’t stereotype what a killer looks like…

Don’t forget that when delivering training to adults, interactive training is important.

The best classes include discussion and sharing from the audience that helps reinforce the course concepts.

Ensure that there are specific times during the course that include audience participation.

9. Thou shall avoid unnecessary abbreviations & initialisms

Oftentimes, in emergency management, it is easy to get carried away with abbreviations and initialisms (like HSEEP, ICS, IC, SitL, etc).

Don’t assume everyone knows the definition of the terms you’re using. Make sure to define each one on first usage.

Using too many abbreviations and initialisms can delay or limit comprehension–just be careful.

10. Thou shall be neither defensive nor offensive

If you don’t know something–admit it. If you get corrected by a student, thank the student and make sure the class understands the correction. You’re an instructor, you’re not infallible. You’re not expected to know everything perfectly–neither are the students. Don’t get defensive. It’s a learning environment for everyone–including the instructors.

Don’t be offensive. Don’t tell crude jokes–they are never as funny as you think they are. Don’t share offensive cartoons, videos, or any other media during the classroom breaks. At best, it gets a laugh. At worst, it triggers a complaint or (worse still) a lawsuit. Don’t make fun of students, other instructors, or do/say anything that could be considered politically incorrect. It simply is not worth it.

Above all else:

Please be polite, courteous, helpful, thoughtful, kind, and professional. There are many opportunities for training and the emergency management field needs awesome instructors.

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I write a monthly emergency preparedness article in the local newspaper (ChevyChase.Patch.com). Here’s the link to my February article. I’ve also copied it below:

Statistics released by the US Secret Service reveal that the majority of active shooter incidents are preventable. Do you know the warning signs?

In 2002, the US Secret Service and the US Department of Education released a report that examined school shootings and attacks from 1974 to 2000 with a focus on “identifying pre-attack behaviors and communications that might be detectable–or “knowable”–and could help in preventing some future attacks.”

The findings included:

There is no accurate or useful “profile” of students who engaged in targeted school violence

Almost three-quarters of the attackers felt persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked or injured by others prior to the incident

98% of attackers “experienced or perceived some major loss prior to the attack”, including loss of social status, loss of a loved one or the end of a romantic relationship, or experiencing a major illness (either personally or in a relative)

93% of attackers planned their attack

Over 90% of attackers exhibited behavior prior to the attack that the attacker had a plan or was preparing to execute an attack

In over 80% of school attacks, the attacker told at least one person about his plans. In close to 60% of school attacks, the attacker told more than one person about his plans.

In essence, school shooters do not cleanly fit the stereotype many of us have for a school shooter. Many of us assume that most active shooters come from broken families, have poor grades, have a history of suffering from mental illness, secretly develop their plans to attack a school, and lack friends.

In fact, most school shooters come from two-parent families, have good grades (only 5% of violent students receive failing grades), and only a third of school shooters were characterized as “loners”. This means that two-thirds of shooters are have friends and regularly socialize.

Students who plan attacks on their schools are usually not known to have psychiatric issues leading up to the attack. In fact, the Secret Service report explains that “fewer than one-fifth had been diagnosed with mental health or behavior disorder prior to the attack”.

The conclusion we can reasonably reach is that the stereotypical profile of a school attacker is a myth. As a community, we need to be ever vigilant for signs and symptoms that could alert us to a student planning an attack. In over 80% of school attacks, the attacker told at least one person about his plans. In close to 60% of school attacks, the attacker told more than one person about his plans.

This means that about four-fifths of school attacks could be prevented if students, siblings, and parents called 911 when they hear about a student planning an attack. It seems incredible, but when most people hear about plans for a school attack, they go into denial. They don’t want to be the one who reports a student, they don’t want to cause the student to “get in trouble”, and they simply don’t want to get involved. In one school shooting, 24 students knew about the attack before it took place!

The most important school shooting prevention tip is to immediately report if you suspect or hear of any plans that a student has to attack a school. If you call 911, you can request to remain anonymous.

As Montgomery County Police Officer Rebecca Innocenti explains, anyone who suspects an attack on a school should “err on the side of caution and give police a call.” For those that do not feel comfortable calling 911, the non-emergency line for the Montgomery County Police Department is 301-279-8000.

Although there are six full-time police officers in Montgomery County that serve as “school resource officers”, the SROs oftentimes cover multiple schools at once. Students, parents, or any other concerned party should not wait until they see an SRO to report a planned attack–always immediately call police or tell a school administrator.

Since over 90% of school attackers exhibit warning signs, we must be mindful of potential warning signs. Warning signs developed by the FBI in 2011 include:

Anyone who observes one or more of these signs should immediately report the student to 911 or a school administrator–our only hope of keeping our schools and kids safe is to ensure our community is advised of warning signs and remains actively vigilant.

For more information on how to survive an active shooter incident, please see my previous post in the Chevy Chase Patch about active shooters.

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Todd Jasper is a federal emergency manager and has been happy to call Chevy Chase home since 2008. His emergency management blog is www.toddjasper.com.